History

HEC Liège, a long history: put into perspective

In 2005, the heads of HEC Liège and Liège University joined forces in order to create a business school of international stature in Liège. This union brought about an innovation in the French-speaking Belgian academic world, and has set an example for other fusions between Institutes for Higher Education (Hautes Ecoles) and Universities.

Since then, the impact of HEC Liège on its environment, at the heart of a fully-fledged University established in 1817, has been growing continually:

It attracts numerous foreign students to Liège: 33% of Master students, (the courses are taught in English), represent more than 60 nations.

Researchers work in international networks, and the School is registered in several procedures for international accreditations. This openness to an international dimension is the back-drop to the education which is shaping the managers of tomorrow.

At the same time, the School is doing everything possible to create a solid connection with Liège, so that its graduates may participate in the growth of companies in our region. Thanks to the BSIS (Business School Impact Survey), organized by HEC Liège in cooperation with the EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development), the School has been able to measure its crucial impact on the region, and to define the central role it plays in the economic fabric in the broadest sense.

Thus, HEC’s initial vocation has expanded. HEC was created in 1898 by business enterprises, on the initiative of “Union des Charbonnages, Mines et Usines Métallurgiques de la Province de Liège”[1] and with the patronage of the “Fédération des Associations Commerciales et Industrielles Liégeoises”[2], to fill the need for training in times when industry was booming. Over the years, it acquired several accreditations, which allowed it to issue different degrees.

1993 marked an important stage in its development: HEC Liège moved to the very heart of Liege city, on the historical Beauregard site, into a complex of buildings of almost 10 800 ft2, and designed by architects Bruno Albert and Camille Ghysen.

The integration of restored ancient buildings into a contemporary design, by the use of the shapes and materials chosen, was a great success. The restoration of the XVIIth century convent, a listed building, is the only pilot project in Wallonia that was selected for safeguarding as European architectural heritage by the European Commission.

[1] Union of coal, mines and metallurgical plants in the province of Liege